Genealogie Bos

13 Jun 2017

In January 1889 Bastiaan van den Engel (29), his wife Hermina Jacoba Peters (27) and their children Jan (6), Antonia (5), Hendrik (4), Klaas (3) and Adriana Alida (1) arrived in Buenos Aires, Argentina. They had travelled with the steamship "Zaandam". It had been build in 1882 in Rotterdam with deadweight of 3.063 gross tons and a service speed of 11 knots. It could carry 50 first class passengers, 424 third class passengers and 51 crew members.

The “Long Depression”, a worldwide economic recession, had had devastating effects on the Argentine economy, resulting in a revolution around the time the Van Engel family arrived in Argentina. Bastiaan van den Engel en Hermina Peters (“Vrouw van den Engel”) were among the 30 persons who collaborated in sending a letter to a newspaper, outlining the problems the Dutch immigrants faced in Argentina. Most of the emigrants couldn’t get a proper job, and thus weren’t able to feed their families. People with debts were even whipped into forced labor. From august 1891 onwards Dutch Newspapers reported about those problems.

In Rosario in Argentina a new daughter named Antonia was born on 28 August 1890 or 1891 (sources differ), so their elder daughter Antonia must have died after their arrival in Argentina. Early 1892 the whole family was back in Holland, when a daughter Adriana was born on 25 February 1892 in Delft, Holland. More children were to follow.

Bastiaan van den Engel lived in Delft with his wife and children.

Bastiaan van den Engel was born on 27-5-1859 in Hoogvliet, Holland. His parents were Jan van den Engel (1837-1907) and Antonia Maastricht. Bastiaan was married at age 22 on 1-2-1882 in Delft, Holland. His bride was Hermina (Hermina Jacoba) Peters, aged 20, born on 29-3-1861 in Nijmegen, Gelderland. She was an illegitimate daughter of Alijda Mechelina Peters. Hermina Peters died on 16-9-1933 in Delft, aged 72. Bastiaan van den Engel died on 14-11-1939 in Rijswijk at the age of 80.